Will Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb want to restructure his contract?

By Josh Katzowitz | NFL Writer

February 12, 2013 3:55 PM ET

Entering the third year of the $63 million contract he signed before the 2011 season, Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb is scheduled to make a $9 million base salary in 2013 to go with a roster bonus of $2 million.

Considering nobody seems to have any idea if Kolb is a legit NFL starter, the Cardinals have no desire to pay him that much money at this point. In fact, as CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora recently pointed out, Kolb might be a good candidate to be a salary-cap casualty.

Cardinals president Michael Bidwill certainly understands that, and even if he doesn't want to get rid of Kolb, he wants to restructure his deal. That's what he told KTAR on Monday, via the Arizona Republic.

“It's a big number and given the productivity and the questions about durability and everything, that's something that I think the reality is we need to sit down and discuss,” Bidwill said.

Remember, Kolb has lost his starting position a couple of times to John Skelton, and in 32 possible games, the injury-prone Kolb has played only 15. In order to avoid paying Kolb the $2 million, a new deal would have to be done by the fifth day of the new league year -- which would be March 17. Or the team, I suppose, could simply release Kolb and not pay him anything (it still would cost the team about $6 million against the 2013 salary cap).

But Kolb arguably is still the best quarterback on the roster (very arguably), and some other team surely would scoop him up, leaving the Cardinals without having anything to show for their big transaction from two seasons ago.

Or you could go this way and hope for the best (via the Republic):

The ideal solution, for both sides, is to make something work for 2013. Maybe Kolb could take considerably less, say $6 million, than the $11 million he's due in exchange for another chance to prove he can start. Perhaps the other $5 million could be recouped through incentives.

If it doesn't work, the Cardinals could release him before 2014, when he's due to make $10 million in salary.

And if Kolb flourishes under Arians, assistant head coach Tom Moore and quarterbacks coach Freddie Kitchens, then $10 million in 2014 isn't an exorbitant amount for a productive quarterback.

So far, though, Kolb hasn't been a productive NFL quarterback, and we're beginning to have our doubts if he ever will.